President Pranab Mukherjee has asked Vice Chancellors and educationists to imbibe Nobel laureate poet and writer Rabindranath Tagore's spirit of universalism and pluralism.

During an interaction with a group of intellectuals at the Srinagar Raj Bhavan last evening after receiving a briefing on higher education scenario in Jammu and Kashmir, the President called upon them to not just achieve high standards but also maintain them on a sustained basis.

Mr Mukherjee said he has asked the Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal to convene a conference of Vice Chancellors of Central Universities so that problems affecting higher education in the country can be discussed in detail.

Recalling his days in Shantiniketan, the President called upon intellectuals to imbibe and implement in their university the spirit of universalism and pluralism that Tagore expounded.

The President also said that a country like India with a billion plus population had no option but to deal with the dual challenges of quantity and quality simultaneously.